


The Frost Covered Crown

by faerytold (orphan_account)



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Witch Hunter!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22204510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/faerytold
Summary: With witches fiercely hunted by the crown, Anna fears the worst when her sister goes missing. However, something within her feels that a more sinister force is at play. Enlisting the help of the one man who could ruin her life, Anna hires Kristoff Bjorgman: the best witch hunter in the land. They have to learn to trust one another, for not only is Elsa missing, but it's the middle of summer...and snow is starting to fall.New summary by the fantastic frozenwritingcorner on tumblr.Officially on hiatus jan 22 2020
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Anna/Kristoff (Disney)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 0 - Prologue

This land used to be different. Beautiful. Glistening. A place of wonder. A land of magic. Blazing with power and prestige. That was before. Before King Runeard’s father took the throne. 

Before magic was outlawed. Before witches were persecuted and forced into hiding. Before even the smallest bit of luck was enough to earn a distrustful look from those around you. Before high ransom was placed on the head of any known witch brought in alive.

Before King Runeard’s son ran away with a witch. 

The rumor, which is now more of a legend, says that Prince Agnarr fell in love with a witch. A lower noble, most likely, who had the most startling blue eyes and the most vibrant smile in all the land. They spent time together, both in study and leisure, and soon Prince Agnarr knew he loved Lady Iduna. 

But Iduna had a frightening secret, and she was terrified of Agnarr finding out. Iduna was a witch. Her magic was not strong, but she could control wind. Witches stronger than her could have caused tornadoes or other destructive events, but Iduna could not. Sometimes, Agnarr thought it was simply that she would not. 

Agnarr discovered Iduna’s secret one day. She was trying to put a book away on a shelf she could not reach and after looking around and not seeing Agnarr walking through the door, used her magic to float high enough to put the book away. To Iduna’s surprise, Agnarr didn’t care about her magic. He suggested they run away together, so they could be together away from King Runeard, who would throw Iduna into the dungeon. 

Iduna agreed. The pocketed some silver, put on servant clothing, and ran through the night. The traveled for a while before finding a place to settle, where they built a home and had two beautiful daughters, who were also witches. And so they have lived happily ever since.   
*  
“Oh, Papa, imagine if you really were a prince!” Anna giggled. “Then we could just change the rules!” 

Agnarr shared a long look with his wife. “Yes, changing the rules would be an ideal thing for a prince to do.”

A quieter voice broke through the strange silence that had fallen in the house. “Papa, are you the prince?” Elsa, her hands clasped in together in her lap, looked hopeful. 

Iduna sat next to her eldest daughter. “Do you think we would live so close to the castle, so close to King Runeard, if your father was a runaway prince?”

The young girl shrugged, pulling her white-blonde braid over her shoulder. “I guess not.” She didn’t sound wholly convinced, but Agnarr stood up and placed a kiss on both girl’s cheeks. 

“Well, that is enough for one night, I believe. Perhaps tomorrow, I’ll have your mother rescue me from a fearsome troll queen. Does that sound nice?”

Anna grinned and nodded, eyes wide and glittering. “Yes.”

Elsa just smiled and watched as her parents shut the door. Something about tonight’s fable had unlocked something in her young mind, and now she would never stop putting that puzzle together until she had every piece.


	2. Chapter 1

Kristoff yawned into the early morning sun. The fire in the hearth had died while he was sleeping, but the summer nights were warm, so he it hadn’t woken him. He scratched the scruff of beard he had grown since his last shave and muttered under his breath. A beard in winter did well, but in summer he hated them. The little cottage wasn’t much, but he had built it with his own two hands, so it was at least something no one could take from him. 

He walked out into a light breeze. The air was unusually chilly for this time of year, and that was something Kristoff took notice of. He narrowed his eyes, reaching out and splaying his fingers, letting the air flow around them. There was a faint thickness about the air, the coolness of it. 

It was magic. 

Kristoff stood in the open air until the breeze died down, but the feeling didn’t go away. There was a witch somewhere near him. It was a ridiculous choice for a witch to make, to come close to his cabin. By now anything magical had been long cleared away from him, by choice or by force. 

He lived just inside the forest, where the trees were thinnest. He could see through the trees to the front of his cabin easily, but around the back was much more difficult. That lead through the forest proper and up to the northern mountains. The breeze came again, softer this time, but still with the faint thickness of magic. Was the witch fleeing? 

With a huff, Kristoff went back inside and pulled on his clothes, grabbing a sword, bow, and quiver. Then he went to the small stable to the side of his house and pulled Sven from his single stall. “Okay buddy, I think we have someone to find. And if we don’t, maybe we can catch dinner.” He swung himself up onto the reindeer and sat off at a brisk pace. 

The forest behind his house was clear, though the uneasy feeling never left him. Something wasn’t right, and he knew it. Still, there was only so much terrain to cover before he called it a day and bagged a couple rabbits. After he returned home, he spent time brushing Sven and talking to him. The reindeer was a better listener than most people were willing to admit. 

The rest of his evening was spent with the rabbits, and by the time he had cooked his dinner, night had fallen. He walked to his open window, reaching for the shutters and looking out at the tree line. The feeling of magic was still there, outside, and he couldn’t shake it. He would have to ride into town in the morning to see if something had happened. Maybe one of the other witch hunters had caught a powerful witch, instead of the lesser witches that had been all anyone saw of late. 

He slammed the shutters closed and snuffed out all but one candle, preparing for bed, when a pounding came to his door. He eyed the wooden door for a moment, and then the pounding came again. Taking his sword in hand, he moved slowly to the door and opened it, sword raised at the knocker. 

A young woman stood in front of him. There was silence between them as he took her in. The full moon shown down, illuminating her red hair and dark cloak. He tighten his grip on the sword, pressing it forward just a little more. She had magic, he could feel it. Stronger than the faint remnants on the breeze this morning. She didn’t flinch from him, her green eyes boring into him with a fiery determination. “I need your help.”

Kristoff narrowed his eyes at her. “A witch needs the help of a witch hunter? What’s to stop me from taking you to the castle right now?”

She swallowed but showed no other sign of nervousness. “Nothing, except this bag of gold.” She lofted a small bag up, the look on her face telling Kristoff she knew she had won. He couldn’t let her get by that easy. 

“What do you want from me?” Kristoff’s question was cautious. He knew the danger witches posed, the tricks they could pull. 

This time a flicker of something ran across the woman’s face. “I need you to do your job. Find a witch.” 

Was she serious? Was this some sort of test? Would one witch turn in another? Another breeze blew into the cabin, and the thickness was still on the wind. “Leave the breeze alone,” he grumbled. 

“What?” She looked confused, and Kristoff sighed. He could feel his defenses lowering already. He put himself back on guard, raising the sword he hadn’t realized was lowering. Was that her doing? 

“I said,” Kristoff said slowly and carefully, “leave the breeze alone.”

The witch seemed nonplused. “I’m not doing anything to the breeze.” They stood in silence for a few more moments, Kristoff trying his best to know what to do in such an unusual situation. “Are you taking the job, or not?” The witch pulled herself up to a larger height, doing her best to look so serious that it turned comical. 

Kristoff lowered his sword. “Okay. I’ll find this with and take her in for you.” His hands were just closing around the bag of gold when it was pulled away. 

“No!” yelled the witch. “You can’t turn her in. I just need her found. It’s my sister. She’s missing.”

This day kept getting weirder. “Fine.” He could help this one find the other one, and then take them both to the crown if he really wanted to. 

There was just...something different about a witch coming to him that he wanted to understand first. “I’m Anna. We leave now.” She turned away from him, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. 

“No, Anna. I need to sleep. We can leave at first light.” Kristoff was already shutting the door, but her foot stopped it. 

Her gazed brokered no argument. “We leave at once. My sister’s life is on the line. You’re supposed to be the best witch hunter in the entire land. So hunt.”

Anna turned and walked to a horse. With a shake of his head, Kristoff followed. He couldn’t gage his intuition on this one. His senses had left him, but now Anna didn’t seem the type to take no for an answer, so rather than argue all night, they could put in a couple miles and make camp. It was all the same to him. It didn’t take long for him to prep Sven and be ready, leading the reindeer beside of Anna’s horse. 

Just as Kristoff had thought, Anna the witch started yawning not long after they started out. By the time they reached a spot for camp, she was practically asleep on her horse. Kristoff was feeling the early morning and the ride they would have to take tomorrow. Maybe he could get more information from her in the morning and find out more about this other witch he was supposed to find. 

They set up camp, both pulling out bedrolls and sleeping under the canopy of trees. They didn’t bother to build a fire, and Kristoff refused to untack Sven, but the settled into an uneasy quiet. Kristoff didn’t want to go to sleep around the witch, but eventually he fell into the world between dreams and wakefulness. 

Then the witch was screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the story is officially started. I just have one other chapter outlined but I’m really loving this start. Let me know what you guys think, too! Who’s ready for some magic?


	3. Chapter 2: Anna

The night has more bite to it than a normal summer night, but Anna ignores that by snuggling deeper into her bedroll. She should probably be more distrustful of this man, the witch-hunter, that she paid to find her sister, but she isn’t. She’s always believed herself to be a good judge of character, and she trusts Kristoff. Even if they just met. Even if she shouldn’t. It helps that she’s exhausted. She spent so much time looking for Elsa, since just after dawn, and now the moon was high in the sky, and she was tired, so it wasn’t a surprise when she drifted off to sleep before Kristoff had even settled into his bedroll. 

It felt like the next moment, but with the position of the moon, it had been some time since she had fallen asleep. Her eyes were still heavy and she wanted to just roll over and go back to sleep, but she couldn’t. Her horse and the reindeer were antsy. Something was wrong. She glanced over to Kristoff, who seemed to be sound asleep. Then she heard it, just on the edge of her hearing. A growl. 

Anna cautiously got to her feet, suddenly wide awake. A growl could be anything but she was betting it wasn’t anything good. Just behind a tree she saw a glint in the moonlight - a reflection of an eye. Her breath caught in her throat and she rushed to the animals, thinking to untie them and wake Kristoff before the animals closed rank, but she had just slipped her horse’s tie from the branch when a vicious snarl ripped through he air. A wolf leapt toward her and she screamed, throwing her hands up and backing away. More came out of the woods, lips raised and menacing.

Kristoff jumped out of his bedroll, a sword already drawn. He swore and raised his sword, lowering himself into a fighting stance. “Get the animals unhooked. Our best chance is to try to outrun them.”

Anna swallowed. Her heart was in her chest and her hands trembling as she untied Sven. Her horse had disappeared, and she cursed her luck. She was tugging on the reindeer’s reins, trying to get the stubborn animal to move closer to Kristoff. She saw a wolf jump at Kristoff and he swung, hitting the animal with a loud swish-thud and an angry mixture of a snarl and yelp. Another tried to attack him, but he managed to dodge it. 

As the wolves recovered and the third began closing in on him, Anna cast about for a weapon she could grab. Then she saw a newly fallen branch under a tree. She rushed forward and grabbed it, turning and smashing it into the first wolf. The wolf ran off, limping, and howled. The other two wolves backed off and followed. 

Anna was breathing hard. “That was intense,” she said. “Do you fight wolves often?”

Kristoff scowled at her. “No.” He picks up the bedrolls and Anna’s back and attaches them to the reindeer. “Why didn’t you use magic?”

“It wouldn’t have helped.” Anna sighed. “Elsa is the strong one. I have healing magic. Weak healing magic. I can fix bruises and scratches, maybe speed up a broken bone. Nothing impressive. I’m more my fathers daughter than my mothers. They were both so powerful.” A glimmer of a smile came and vanished before Anna realized it had even started. Then she clapped her hands. “Well, we’re already awake. We should keep moving. My sister isn’t going to find herself.”

Kristoff looked like he wanted to argue but instead he nodded. “We should. The wolves could come back. Since Anna’s horse is still missing, most likely back at the stable she had rented it from, Kristoff helps her onto the reindeer before getting on himself. 

The terrain is easy and Kristoff seems to know where he’s going, so Anna tries to relax. Even if she is with the best witch-hunter in the country. Even if she had no reason to trust his word. Even if, especially if, he hates magic so much that he makes a career of hunting her kind. 

“Why do you hate magic so much?” The words are soft, not meant to be spoken, but they are. Anna clamps her mouth tight after they leave, but the damage has been done. She feels Kristoff stiffen.

“Why is your sister missing?” It wasn’t an answer, but it was a opening. A way to start a conversation, and Anna grabbed onto it.

Anna shrugged. “I woke up just after dawn this morning and she was gone. She’s been distant recently. More than usual, anyway, but then she just vanished. No trace of her, no note, but she packed a few supplies so I don’t think she was taken.”

The reindeer’s pace slowed. “You’re trying to track down a witch who ran away.”

Anna scowled. “She didn’t run away. Not like you mean. Elsa has always been, felt, different. She thinks I can pass as a non-witch in the city, but there is no way she could ever do that. Her magic is too much for that. I think she was trying to send me off for what she thinks would be a better life.”

“And you disagree?”

“I do.” Anna bit her lip. “I’m lost without Elsa. Since our parents...she’s the only thing I have. I don’t care about anything else.”

There was a small silence, but despite the owls hoots and the reindeer stepping on twigs, it still seemed too silent. Kristoff seemed to think the same thing. “What are Elsa’s powers like?”

“Ice. Cold. She controls it, I think. She can make snow and frost and all manner of amazing things,” Anna said. She leaned over from behind him, trying to see what was up ahead. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s always good to know what I’m up against,” Kristoff said. 

The statement made Anna’s stomach churn. “Don’t forget you’re just helping me find her. We aren’t doing anything else.”

“I remember what you said,” Kristoff said. 

There was another silence now, this one longer, but Anna didn’t care. Was she really letting herself be led by this man, who was her enemy. Who loved to watch her kind suffer? She was going to be sick. She opened her mouth to demand to be let off the reindeer, when Kristoff spoke again.

“What do your parents think of your magic?”

“Like I said, mother was a good witch. She had air magic. She could make a breeze, or hold someone up, or do whatever she wanted, really, with the help of the air. Our house was never too hot in the summer because of her and Elsa.” Anna smiled at the memory. “Our dad wasn’t a witch, though. He focused on the house and working. He was a carpenter. Everyone loved his work and had a small shop in the town.”

“Was his father a carpenter, then? In this town?” Kristoff asked. 

Anna shook her head. “I don’t know. Father and mother never told us about their lives before us. They made up tales, but they were always fables meant to entertain and nothing more.”

Anna was lost in her thoughts for a while after that, only focusing again when the reindeer stopped moving. “I need more than the little sleep I got, and I’m willing to bet you do as well. We’ll make camp here and break at first light.”

Anna nodded. This time she listened when Kristoff said to leave everything on Sven. They settle quickly into their bedrolls. “You never answered my question,” Anna said. “I answered all of yours. Why do you hate witches so much?” She knew he wasn’t sleeping, and yet, when she looked over, he appeared to be in the deepest sleep of his life. With a sigh, Anna rolled onto her side and prayed that no wolves would come this time. 

First light seemed to come to early, and yet the blinding rays of sun would not stop poking through her eyelids. She groaned as she sat up wiping away the remnants of drool from the corner of her mouth. She tried to open her eyes, but the sun reflecting off the snow was too bright.

“What?” she whispered and squinted between her lashes. Snow. Snow all around. Just a light layer right now, but it was still slowly drifting down. “It’s summer.” Then her brain caught up with what she was seeing. She scrambled to her feet, rushing thought the camp and waking Kristoff, ignoring his confused comments. 

It was the middle of summer and there was snow on the ground. 

Elsa was in trouble.


End file.
